Re: Baseball for Brain Surgeons
You guys, baseball color commentary is HARD. I do it for a college team on radio. It's even harder than on TV. The problem is, that you (as an "insider"), don't know what the casual fan doesn't know. As a baseball guy, I talk strategy, signs that pitchers may be tired, and predict what you can expect to see in the current situation. It's hard to explain details generally enough to keep them interesting...and at the college level, there aren't a whole bunch of anecdotes and stories to tell. I know I lean toward the technical, but people like my analysis...at least they tell me they do to my face. It's hard to find a balance between speaking layman, not insulting your audience's intelligence, AND trying to point things out that may not have occured to your average fan. Nobody wants a color guy that says "he did a nice job of getting that bunt down there", and "what a great jump he got on that steal." Anyway, that's my two cents' worth...
You guys, baseball color commentary is HARD. I do it for a college team on radio. It's even harder than on TV. The problem is, that you (as an "insider"), don't know what the casual fan doesn't know. As a baseball guy, I talk strategy, signs that pitchers may be tired, and predict what you can expect to see in the current situation. It's hard to explain details generally enough to keep them interesting...and at the college level, there aren't a whole bunch of anecdotes and stories to tell. I know I lean toward the technical, but people like my analysis...at least they tell me they do to my face. It's hard to find a balance between speaking layman, not insulting your audience's intelligence, AND trying to point things out that may not have occured to your average fan. Nobody wants a color guy that says "he did a nice job of getting that bunt down there", and "what a great jump he got on that steal." Anyway, that's my two cents' worth...
but I have been outdone with the new pic. Which is supurb, amazing, and DIFFERENT! 
Neither of these two books are about strategy, but Confessions of a Baseball Purist by Jon Miller and Fair Ball by Bob Costas are great books. I really enjoyed listening to a lot of fans run their mouth last year about the possible strike w/o having a clue what they were talking about. Fair Ball goes into great detail on the things that created this situation and what needs to change in Baseball. Bob Costas is the MAN!
Comment